Heater



2 Sheets-Sheet J.

F. E. THOMES HEATER Filed July 29, 1952 INVENTOR fiwnHE-Tlaomes.

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arch 24 n n I March 24, 1936. THOMES 2,034,782

HEATER Filed July 29, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Iwv r: NTO R,

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wa gzw fittorney Patented Mar. 24, 1936 ,ossiz Application July 29, 1932, Serial No. 626,129 In Canada August 6, 1931 1 Claim.

This invention relates, in general terms, to heating apparatus and deals particularly with house heaters employing either steam or hotwater, or a combination of both, as the heattransmitting medium.

In one quite extensively used type of house heater the water and steam-holding sections are assembled one above another in stack formation; in another type these sections are placed in 'a row running from the front to the back of the heater, the dividing line between the sections being transversely of the heater. In both types the sections are joined together by short push-nipples through which water and steam is can pass from one section to the others, involving a construction requiring very close and accurate workmanship in order to procure true alignment of the push-nipple holes when assembling the sections, otherwise leaky joints are bound to occur.

My present invention contemplates a sectional heater built on somewhat unusual lines. The sections stand side by side in transverse order, that is, the dividing line between the sections 5 runs lengthwise of the heater, or from front to back. Each section to all intents and purposes is in individual heater for by a simple rearrangement of the outside piping one of them, in for instance the two-section heater, may serve as a steam and the other as a hot-water heat-distributing unit-a very efficient arrangement where it is desired to heat some particular portion of a house throughout the night time by using the hot-water section of the heater; or

the whole heater may be used wholly for either method of heatingsteam or hot-water.

My method of dividing the heater into separate units is not to be confused with the ordinary practice in constructing sectional heaters in which latter the sections taken collectively must operate wholly as steam or wholly as hot-water units and therefore not capable of being separated into independent divisions of the whole sectional assembly, as is the case with my particular construction.

Regardless of the number of sections or divisions in my heating boiler the furnace proper is common to all of them. The outside sections are duplicates except that one is right hand and the other left. The adjacent faces of the outside sections are so made that they can either be mutually attached or they can be separated and one or more intermediate sections installed between them, an extended or Wider base member '55 then being all that is required.

Communication between the interiors of the sections is established by outside, inter-connecting pipes and not by directly joining one section with another; provision is also made for taking care of expansion and contraction at the connecting points of the pipes with the sections.

In the present invention I am more particularly concerned with the specific construction involved and the method employed in assembling the sections, side by side, on the base member whereby the water and steam spaces'are separate and distinct, one section from another, but the combustion chamber and flue spaces common to all. Three or four bolts suffice to secure two sections together and this greatly facilitates the work and lowers the cost of installation. A two-section heater of my construction can be enlarged without increasing the height of the heater and this is of particular advantage in low posted basements.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention I employ what I call flame flues located on the sides of the furnace wall, these flues being the subject of a previous patent issued to me, No. 1,672,793, dated June 5th, 1928.

I have disclosed the character of the invention in the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my two-section heater;

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation thereof;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional elevation of the heater;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional elevation thereof;

Fig. 5 is a plan view, in section, taken on line 55, Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of a three-section heater;

Fig. '7 is a transverse sectional elevation of the heater shown in Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary plan view of Fig. 6;

Fig. 9 is a detail drawn to an enlarged scale showing the method of making outside connection of one section with another;

Fig. 9a shows a connection for single section operation.

Like reference characters are used to identify like parts in all views of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, particularly to Fig. 1, I represents the heater base containing the ash-pit 2 and the grates 3.

Mounted on the base member are two water and steam-holding sections 4 and 5 mutually abutting on the central vertical line CL. The

sections are secured together by bolts 6 which pass through ears 1 on the respective sections.

The heater is provided with the usual fire-door 8, ash-pit door 9 and clean-out door I0, and also has facilities for slicing or cleaning that portion of the fuel-bed which lies directly over the grates in the form of openings l I in the front plate l2, these openings being normally closed. by covers 13.

The heater is also equipped with the necessary boiler fittings, as the water column 14, steam gauge l5, safety valve I6 and draft-regulating diaphragm mechanism H.

In case it is desired to operate a hot water tank the heater may be equipped with an indirect heater connecting the pipes l8 and 19; or, if a direct method of heating the tank water is preferred a coil may be placed Within the heater furnace, the inlet and outlet pipes to and from the same passing through openings 20 and 2| in the rear wall of the furnace. Neither of the two above mentioned devices are shown in the drawings.

Interior communication between the two sections is accomplished by joining the upper headers 22 by a pipe 23, and the lower headers 24 by a pipe 25. In both cases the ends of these pipes are machine turned and made accurate and tight fits in the long and straight reamed holes 26 in the headers.

The two sections are drawn together over the pipe ends by tightening the nuts on the rods 21 and 28, the operation being performed on the rods simultaneously to insure bringing the holes 26 over the turned ends of the pipes in proper alignment. Particular attention is called to the fact that the headers are placed at such a distance apart that slight expansion or contraction of the sections, or even slight distortion thereof Will fail to disturb or effect the tightness of the joints at the holes 26. In certain cases it is desirable to lightly expand the pipe ends to make them fit more tightly, the expanding tool being inserted through the hole 26' after removing the plug 22'.

In Figs. 3 and 4 I illustrate the interior construction of my heater. The furnace portion, preferably, is equipped with the flame flues hereinbefore referred to as being elements in a previously granted patent.

These flame flues 29 alternate with water pockets 3!] (see Fig. 5) and are arranged symmetrically on both sides of the furnace walls. (Fig. 3 which in reality comprises two half sections of the heater in order to avoid the necessity of adding another figure to the drawings, shows a flame flue on one side and a water pocket on the other).

The flame flues have vertical slots 29 in their inner walls opening into the combustion chamber C. Thus when ashes accumulate on the grate sufficiently deep to cover the bottom entrance to the flues, heat may be projected through these slots on to the inner wall of the water legs of the heater.

Heat rising from the burning fuel comes directly into contact with the lowest crown plate 3! around which it is drafted (see arrow w) through the opening 3! into the flue space 32, contacting as it proceeds with the middle crown plate 33. The forward end of the plate 33 is shortened, as also is the plate 3|, the opening 34 permitting the heat to rise into the flue space 35 (see arrow 11:) and into contact with the upper crown plate 36.

In its tortuous upward course from the fuelbed the heat has come into impingement with an extensive heating surface and before that small portion of the heat remaining has reached the smoke opening 31 and the smoke pipe 38 the flue structure has largely absorbed the heat and radiated it into the water in the water-holding structures between the flue spaces which I designate as horizontal water-legs. It will be noted that the combustion chamber and the upper flue spaces are in common in both sections of the heater, 4 and 5.

The lower interior vertical walls 39 of the furnace are separated from the outer walls 40 by narrow water-leg spaces 4|, and this idea of segregating or dividing the boiler water into thin masses has been consistently carried out in the upper structure of the heater; for instance, above the lower crown plate 3| is a narrow Water space 42 and above the crown plate 33 is another similarly contracted space 43.

The lateral walls 44 defining the sides of the flue space 35 are disposed inwardly of the lateral walls 45, this construction providing somewhat increased steam storage space which to a large degree prevents foaming of the boiler water which causes it to be forced into the steam service lines.

Between the flue spaces 32 and 35 I mount a deflector 46 which, during normal operation of the heater is positioned to close the opening 46 (deflector shown in full lines, Fig. 4) compelling the gas and flame to wind upward through all the flue spaces; but when starting a fire or when refueling, the defiector is moved forwardly by actuation of the rod 41, opening the space 46 and v permitting the gas to pass directly to the chimney.

In Figs. 6, 7 and 8 I have illustrated a threesection heater mounted on the base I, the outer sections 4' and 5' being quite similar to sections 4 and 5 of. Fig. 3. The middle section M has double headers 48 and 48', the pipes 23 and 25 connecting, respectively, therewith. It will be observed that interior communication for water and steam between one section and the others is solely through either one of the pipes 23 and 25, and that no joints directly connecting one section with another is involved in the entire construction.

The height of the heater in this three-section type is similar to that of the two-section one, and this feature is of quite considerable importance when a large capacity heater is to be installed in a low posted basement. The base member must, of course, be extended or made sufiiciently wide to embrace the three sections it supports.

As applies in the case of the two-section heater, the combustion chamber and smoke flues of the three-section one are merged in one continuous space, but the steam and water spaces are separated and distinct with but one way of intercommunicationthat through the pipes 23 and By referring to Fig. 6 it will be observed that there are two fire-doors. This construction is necessary if the two outer sections are made to apply to both two and three-section heaters; in other words, no change in the door-frame structure is required whether the heater is two-section or three or more sections provided the dividing line comes centrally of the length of the door in the two outer sections.

Thus the heater shown in Fig. '7 can be converted into one illustrated in Fig. 3 by simply removing the middle section M and drawing the two outer sections together, one half of the door frame being on the right hand section and the other half on the left hand.

When the heater is to be used as a combined steam and hot-water heating plant the holes 26 are plugged and the hot-water portion (righthand half section, Fig. 3) handled through the delivery pipe 49 and return pipe 50, the steam side employing delivery pipe 5| and return pipe 52. When the heater is to be used as a straight steam or hot-water plant one pair of the delivery and return pipes may be dispensed with. Fig. 9a shows the opening 26 of one of the lower headers closed by plug P for operating a section as an individual heater.

My heater cannot be considered an aggregation of sections each one of which is a workable and complete heating unit in itself for the reason that it requires at least two sections to make a finished heater. It is, however, capable of being transformed into component parts each of which may serve as a distinct heating plant insofar as supplying the heat medium-either steam or hotwater-for separate heating systems is concerned. But the furnace portion of. the heater is not complete in any one section, therefore, it is obvious that a combination is evolved in which one section of the heater has cooperation of and serves in conjunction with one or more of the other sections in order to procure an operative heating plant.

The sections in my heater are made somewhat wider than those used in the conventional type of steam or hot-water heaters, but not so large and bulky as to present any difliculty whatever in handling or in passing them through the narrowest door-way or hall in the ordinary house.

Furthermore, the fact that in my heater, say

the three-section type, there are but eight water and steam joints to make in assembling the sections compares most favorably with conditions met with in the assembling of the sections in the ordinary house heater in which there are several times this number for the same capacity of heater. The assemblers thus have'fewer parts to handle and a less number of joints to make tight.

What I claim is:

A transversely divided sectional heater comprising in combination a base member, two outer vertical water-holding sections, having upper and lower pipe-receiving openings therein, mounted thereon, vertical water legs on three sides of said sections, an intermediate section, having a vertical water leg on its front and rear portions, disposed between said outer sections, said sections having two upper and two lower pipe-receiving openings in alignment, respectively, with the openings in said outer sections, means to mutually secure said sections whereby a water-holding structure is evolved having vertical water legs on all four of its sides, a furnace space common to all said sections, a plurality of. vertically spaced, horizontally disposed water-holding legs, the lower of which defines the top of said furnace space, each of said legs, alternately, stopping short of one of the said vertical water-holding legs to permit passage of hot gases around its end, whereby the gases flow upwardly from said furnace space in a zig-zag course, pipes having machine turned ends interconnecting and closely fitting the openings in adjacent sections, said pipes being disposed at the top and bottom and at the rear ends only of said sections.

FRANK E. THOMES. 

